Where to find nuts & bolts these days?!

[OneGunTex]

Part question, part rant.
Where the heck do you go to get fasteners for your projects, especially metric or specialty nuts, bolts, rods, etc?
Over the years, have worked on a number of vehicles, and I'm always looking for a very specific length, thread pitch, etc. A lot of it is metric, and there doesn't seem to be good metric stock anywhere. Home Depot/Lowes is awful, they have those drawers that are a total mess. Ace Hardware and similar are a lot better, more old school aisle of fasteners in trays, but they'll have like every other metric size, not the full range. Fastenal in my area is not open to private customers (only commercial). I don't trust the quality of any hardware that comes off of Amazon.
Currently working on a jet ski engine with all metric hardware. Pulling my hair out. Hate having to special order it from a jet ski place, $3 for a simple M5x16 cap screw + shipping and it takes a week to get here.

 

[ChrisAU]

McMaster Carr, gotta know what you want and have a couple days to wait though.

 

[partsunavailable]

Mccmaster

 

[280Ackley]

Fastenal is in pretty much every town

 

[cwitt]

Tacoma Screw and Copper State Screw if you’re in the west.

 

[Blurry1]

Granger and last case sometimes Amazon.

 

[Chris in TN]

My local hardware store still has tons of stuff.


Picked up some 6-32 screws last week.

 

[AZDC]

Ace Hardware should fit all your needs if you want it same day and only want a few. Mcmaster-Carr does min buys and shipping so if you need one BO SCHS you’ll get 25 and pay $15.

 

[justinspicher]

Either Ace hardware or Tractor supply in this one horse town.

 

[OneGunTex]

Fastenal is in pretty much every town

Mine is commercial-only, and I'm in a decent sized city.

Ace Hardware should fit all your needs if you want it same day and only want a few. Mcmaster-Carr does min buys and shipping so if you need one BO SCHS you’ll get 25 and pay $15.

I wish! The only Ace near me is a small mom & pop shop that got rebranded Ace, and while their selection is much better than home depot, it's not great. They had M7x50 and M7x70 bolts today, but no M7x60mm. And small quantities mean they might only have 1 or none, even if there's a spot in the tray for it

 

[OneGunTex]

Granger and last case sometimes Amazon.

Didn't think about Granger. There's a couple on the outskirts of the city. I'll have to try there next.

Either Ace hardware or Tractor supply in this one horse town.

Also Tractor Supply outside of town. But last time I went in there, no better than Ace. I forget what I was looking for. Maybe threaded rod or something

 

[justinspicher]

Our ace is way better than the TSC.

 

[Boarmaster]

Fastenal is in pretty much every town

This. They are even in really small towns.

 

[BRTreedogs]

Ace is the place.
I don’t think you actually have to be commercial for fastenal, you just have to have an online account, know what u want, order it, wait for them to email its ready for pickup, then make sure to go during will call.
It’s drop shipped to them packaged

They just had you your order.

 

[BRTreedogs]

This. They are even in really small towns.

They no longer allow you to just walk in and buy stuff though.

Covid killed it.

 

[Boarmaster]

They no longer allow you to just walk in and buy stuff though.

Covid killed it.

Really I didnt know that. Odd.

 

[BRTreedogs]

Really I didnt know that. Odd.

Yeah
They still have a fortress counter.

 

[waspocrew]

Ace for me. HD and Lowe's are just harder to navigate and you typically have to buy a pack of nuts/bolts instead of only buying what you need.